ای که از کلک هنر
Ay Ke Az Kelke Honar
“O You of the Pen of Art”
Lyrics
Lyrics updated · July 2026English Translation
O you whose artistic pen draws the enchanting image of God What a pity that my moon is so far from affection You said you would not make my heart bleed — where are you now? I did not know from the beginning that you were without love and faith Better not to make a covenant than to make one and not keep it
Friends reproach me — why did I give my heart to you? They should have told you first: why are you so beautiful?
What can the poor bird do if it does not go for the grain? The feet of the lover cannot be bound by spells and tales O you who said: do not go after the beautiful ones of the age — Where are we in this sea of thought, and where are you?
Transliteration
Ay ke az kelke honar naqshe dil angez khudaye Hayef bashad mahe man ke-ein hama az meher judayee Gofta bodee jigaram khoon nakoni baz tu kojayee Man nadanistam az awal ke tu be mehr o wafaye Ahd na bastan az an beh ke bebandi o napaye
Dostan ayb konandam ke chera dil ba tu dadam Bayad awal ba tu goftan ke chonin khob cherye
Morghe meskin chi konad kar narawad dar paye dana Paye ashiq natawan bast ba afsoon o fesanah Ay ke gofti maraw andar paye khobane zamana Ma kojayem dar ein bahre tafakor tu kojaye
Charkh imshab ke ba kaame dile maa khwasta gashtan Daamane wasle tu natwaan ba raqibaane tu hashtan Natwaan az tu baray dile hamsaaya gozashtan Shama raa bayad azin khana beron bordan o koshtan Taa ke hamsaya nadaanad ke tu dar khana e maaye
Nargese mast tu mastoree mardom nagozinad Daste gulchin narasad ta gule az shakhe tu chinad Jelwa kon jelwa ke khorshid ba khelwat naneshinad Parda bardar ke beganah khod aan roye nabinad Tu bozorgee o dar ayenaye kochak nanemayee
متن اصلی
ای که از کلک هنر نقش دل انگیز خدایی حیف باشد مه من کاین همه از مهر جدایی گفته بودی جگرم خون نکنی باز کجایی من ندانستم از اول که تو بی مهر و وفایی عهد نابستن از آن به که ببندی و نپایی
دوستان عیب کنندم که چرا دل به تو دادم باید اول به تو گفتن که چنین خوب چرایی
مرغ مسکین چه کند گر نرود در پی دانه پای عاشق نتوان بست به افسون و فسانه ای که گفتی مرو اندر پی خوبان زمانه ما کجاییم در این بحر تفکر تو کجایی
چرخ امشب که به کام دل ما خواسته گشتن دامن وصل تو نتوان به رقیبان تو هشتن نتوان از تو برای دل همسایه گذشتن شمع را باید از این خانه برون بردن و کشتن تا به همسایه نداند که تو در خانه ی مایی
نرگس مست تو مستوری مردم نگزیند دست گلچین نرسد تا گلی از شاخ تو چیند جلوه کن جلوه که خورشید به خلوت ننشیند پرده بردار که بیگانه خود آن روی نبیند تو بزرگی و در آیینه ی کوچک ننمایی
O you whose pen draws God's image — you broke your covenant, friends reproach me for giving my heart, but they should have first asked you: why are you so beautiful? The bird cannot help going for the grain.
About This Recording
The opening address — 'O you whose artistic pen draws the enchanting image of God' — positions the beloved as a creative artist, one whose skill produces something of divine origin. This is a sophisticated compliment and also an accusation: the person capable of creating such beauty must also bear responsibility for what that beauty causes in others.
The song's most memorable couplet belongs to the friends who reproach the speaker: 'Friends reproach me — why did I give my heart to you? / They should have told you first: why are you so beautiful?' The logic is precise and comic in the way the best ghazal couplets are — the speaker redirects the reproach to its proper target, the beauty itself, which is the actual cause of the problem.
The bird and grain metaphor — 'What can the poor bird do if it does not go for the grain?' — offers the same argument in biological rather than social terms. The bird cannot not respond to grain; the lover cannot not respond to beauty. The reproach is addressed to the wrong party in both cases. The final question, 'Where are we in this sea of thought, and where are you?' arrives as philosophical exhaustion: the argument has been made, the beauty persists, and the speaker is still lost.
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